HOYS Announces new Showing Wild Card

A new initiative to reward consistent competitors across Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) showing qualifiers is being launched in 2015. The decision to increase opportunities to qualify for Horse of the Year Show aims to recognise the high quality of consistent performers who may have previously been unsuccessful in gaining qualification for the Show.

This year will see the Tagg La Liga Most Consistent Award series included at HOYS for the third time. In the first two years of this series, it has been noted, there have been some horses and ponies, that despite incredibly consistent results across the season, have not managed to earn that elusive HOYS qualification.

In some instances, competitors placed 2nd in large classes on up to five separate occasions, demonstrating that these horses and ponies are of very high quality.

In 2015, all horses and ponies that top their relevant ridden section of the Tagg La Liga Awards, but who have not already qualified for HOYS, will have the chance to be awarded a Wild Card entry. There will be one Wild Card across all of the ridden pony classes and one Wild Card across all of the ridden horse classes.

In order to decide without prejudice which horse and pony are to be awarded the Wild Cards, only the best five results of each horse and pony, earned throughout the 2015 season, will be considered eligible for contention. The calculation will be the same system used to decide the overall awards (five points for a win, counting back to one point for 5th place).

The horse and pony with the highest number of points will then be awarded the Wild Card place. This will allow them to enter HOYS in the same manner as any other competitor, and with the same entitlements. In the event of a tie on points, there will be a live draw hosted on the HOYS website, to decide which horse or pony is to be allocated the Wild Card place.

The introduction of this system will ensure that a spread of high quality horses and ponies, who have demonstrated talent and consistency throughout the season, maximise their chances to compete at the “The World’s Most Famous Horse Show”.

For more information on Horse of the Year Show 2015, please contact:

Horse of the Year Show Press OfficeGrandstand Media LtdTel: 02477712110Email: press@hoys.co.uk